This Is Not What I Expected

This pastiche of the contemporary Chinese romcom and the old-school screwball comedy delights all the senses. Mousy and accident-prone Gu Shengnan is a brilliant chef, the best-kept secret in her fancy hotel; Lu Jin is a reserved yet rude megalomaniac millionaire. In an antagonistic antithesis of the meet-cute, the two have an unfortunate yet hilarious run-in that makes them mortal adversaries. In a comic twist of fate, die-hard foodie Lu ends up a guest of the hotel and becomes hopelessly obsessed with Gu’s intoxicating dishes. An all-consuming love-hate relationship blossoms—with food standing in for sex—amidst a succession of laugh-riot hi-jinks, as stars Zhou Dongyu and Takeshi Kaneshiro prove as effortless a comedy duo as Hepburn and Grant (Bringing Up Baby), while wryly nodding to Ge You and Shu Qi (If You Are the One). A dish to be savored. Q&A with director Derek Hui.